Chapter 146 The Emperor Breaks Free from the Prison
Chapter 146 The Emperor breaks free from the cage
In the luxurious manor, there is no usual singing and dancing, and there are no famous prostitutes from Qinhuai River to accompany them. Everyone has a sad look on their faces, and the atmosphere is depressed.
"Everyone, I guess some of you don't know much about the specific situation. Let me introduce it first. According to the news from the capital, His Majesty has built a large-scale workshop group in the west of the city. Its area is as big as several Yangzhou cities.
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Nowadays, there are hundreds of large workshops built, each of which can accommodate dozens of spinning machines. Based on the number of female workers entering and leaving the city every day, there are probably no less than 60,000 to 70,000 spinners."
As the old man at the head slowly finished speaking, the hundreds of foreign officials and gentry around him suddenly took a breath of air. It was obvious that most of them did not understand the details.
"hiss!"
"Fifty or sixty thousand people are spinning. How many will be spun in one day?"
The old man's surname is Xu, his ancestral home is Fengyang, and he has the same clan as Xu Da, the founder of the country. For more than two hundred years, he has maintained a close relationship with Wei Guogong. The family mainly operates the textile industry and is the largest cotton merchant in the entire Jiangnan.
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There are tens of thousands of women spinning and weaving under their names, there are hundreds of large and small workshops, hundreds of thousands of acres of family mulberry fields, and more than 100,000 pieces of cotton and satin can be produced every year.
He is also the one who pays the most attention to the trend of cotton in the capital. He is also one of the initiators of this gathering. After everyone calmed down, he continued: "Not only that, according to the survey, almost every household of farmers and military households near the capital has weavers.
The number of machines is as high as 200,000 to 300,000, and His Majesty also joined hands with local gentry and nobles to open hundreds of dyeing workshops outside the city. In just six months, it has reached such a scale. In another year and a half,
Zai, the consequences are really unimaginable!"
Everyone was in an uproar again.
Obviously everyone was shocked by the emperor's handiwork. Almost all the families here have cotton business.
But they have been working hard for tens or hundreds of years. The efforts of several generations can only produce tens of thousands of looms, or thousands or hundreds of looms, but they are nothing compared to the emperor.
"Mr. Xu, I have seen the cloth from the north. It is very rough and cannot be compared with the cotton cloth from the south. I just don't know how efficient the spinning is. If it is not high, don't worry too much."
"Yes, I estimate that if this piece of cotton cloth is sold at this rate, Your Majesty will not make much money, and may even suffer losses. This is definitely not a long-term solution. At worst, we will lower the price to cope with it."
Some people also calmed down and felt that although His Majesty's momentum was huge, he was still losing money and making noise, which could not last long.
When it comes to the cloth business, how can the northerners be their rivals to the southerners? Even if His Majesty takes the lead, it will be too much for a long time, not to mention that it is impossible for His Majesty to put all his energy into cotton.
"Everyone, the cotton cloth from the north is indeed very rough, but don't forget that this is only half a year, and based on the number of spinning machines and looms, the spinning machines built by your majesty are probably more efficient than mine.
It’s much higher.”
Mr. Xu said solemnly.
"What? How is this possible?"
"Mr. Xu, are you mistaken? How is it possible for His Majesty to build a spinning machine that is more efficient than us?"
Everyone was shocked, but at the same time they couldn't accept that their looms and spinning machines had been improved from generation to generation to achieve the efficiency they have today.
Of course, the spinning machines of each company are tucked away, so we can only guess at the specific efficiency.
"If this were not the case, why would Your Majesty be so laborious and mobilized to produce cotton cloth?"
"Then I will go back and improve the spinning machine. I won't believe it. I can still lose to the northerners in weaving and spinning."
"Yes, as long as everyone doesn't hide it, is willing to contribute their skills, and then gather the skilled craftsmen from each family together, we will definitely be able to create a spinning machine that is better than His Majesty's!"
Everyone is confident about this.
However, Mr. Xu poured a ladle of cold water down and sneered: "We have built a better spinning machine, and then what? Your Majesty has issued an imperial edict, do we still dare not to hand it over?"
"Everyone, wake up, this is not about spinning machines and looms, nor is it about the price of cotton.
But His Majesty and the nobles in the north are eyeing this fat piece of cotton and want to eat it all in one bite. This year, all the cotton in Shandong has been taken away by the imperial envoys sent by the imperial court."
In one sentence, everyone's illusions about a commercial competition were completely shattered. It was obvious that those who could come to discuss the matter were not fools.
"Mr. Xu, judging from the scale, His Majesty's determination is great. It can be imagined. What can we do to resist?"
"That's right! Today's emperor is no better than the kings of the past. If the king wants his ministers to die, they will have to die. If one of them is not good, he may end up in a situation where his family is ruined and his family is destroyed."
Everyone looked helpless, feeling powerless in their hearts.
Everyone actually understands it.
The reason why Jiangnan's business is so prosperous, that it dares to open large workshops and take care of the work of tens of thousands of people, only started after the Tumubao Revolution.
The Xungui Group was completely suppressed, and the civil servants took control of the military power and the right to speak. To put it harshly, the emperor was just a puppet kept in a deep palace by the civil servants.
No matter how many civil servants are killed, no matter how many eunuchs are sent south to plunder, nothing can be fundamentally changed, nor can the invisible shackles be broken.
But now the emperor has once again directly taken control of the military and has completely broken free from the prison.
Why are you trying to steal the cotton business?
It is clear that the imperial power is beginning to suppress the big families in Jiangnan again, eliminate all existence that can threaten the imperial power, and restore the scene to the early Ming Dynasty.
Although no one here has experienced the situation in the early Ming Dynasty, they can only understand what kind of scene it was based on the lessons passed down from their ancestors. Almost no one is willing to live under the pressure of imperial power at all times.
Thinking of this, everyone was sweating profusely and terrified.
"Everyone, we alone are far from being able to fight this matter. It is by no means just a matter of cotton. I believe that the entire Jiangnan gentry family can see this and will not ignore it.
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Old man Xu stood up with narrowed eyes and said slowly.
Duke Guo of Wei fell, and the Xu family no longer had a backer. Although there was another Duke of Ding in the capital who also had the surname Xu, he had not had any contact with him for more than a hundred years.
Now that His Majesty is using cotton cloth again, he knows without asking that he will definitely attack the Xu family when the time comes.
Everyone also understood what Mr. Xu meant, that is, everyone should go back and contact other wealthy merchants.
All the officials and businessmen in Jiangnan must unite and force His Majesty to give up his thoughts, otherwise he will never have a good life in the future.
In fact, other large merchants in Jiangnan naturally realized that His Majesty was not just trying to make money or seize the cotton business.
Instead, we need to pull out all the stops and completely suppress the big households in Jiangnan, or in other words, not allow the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty to be controlled by Jiangnan alone.
If His Majesty is short of money and food, everyone can accept it by sending some eunuchs to collect trade and mining taxes, even a few salt merchants and cloth merchants can tolerate it. Even imposing a sea ban and establishing a shipping department are not out of the question.
But the only thing that everyone cannot accept is that His Majesty opens his own workshop to produce goods for sale. This is not competing for profits with the people, but competing with all the rich people in Jiangnan.
Today we are producing cotton cloth, but tomorrow we may open a workshop in Nanjing to directly produce silk and satin, and even eventually the salt industry in Lianghuai will be brought under the name of the inner court.
As all parties join forces, more and more people understand the true intentions of today's emperor and are also aware of an unprecedented crisis.
He also understood the imperial concubine’s purpose of recruiting and training troops outside Nanjing.
But no matter how clear they are, no one is willing to do it if the big guys directly start a rebellion.
In the end, we could only organize the spinners, weavers, and dyers in the workshops to go to Nanjing to petition.
Then he organized the scholars to kneel down at the gate of the palace and ask the Queen Mother to come forward and bring justice to the people who had lost their livelihood.
Various places responded one after another, inciting the people to create public opinion, put pressure on the emperor, and strive to take a step back.